By Haruna Halan
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The people of Bauchi State are experiencing a tremendous shift in terms of development and growth with great infrastructure and other big projects that are being put in place by the highly distinguished governor, his excellency Senator Bala Abdulkadir Muhammed. From the genesis of his first tenure as the governor of Bauchi State, he hopped into action, making good and notable projects in the state, some things that had been left lacking in the previous administrations and were never given a thought, but he took the yield of them all up.
The one notable one is the revitalisation of one of the most dreaded roads in the state which is the Sabon Kaura Road. That road has been despised by many due to it being in bad shape, but the governor on his emergence into office, took it up as one of his first projects. Linking the road from Sabon Kaura to Plateau State. Another notable project worthy of recognition is that of the government house, he reconstructed the state house, making it to be one of the most beautiful government houses in the country at large.
Not only that, but he also tends to the needs of the people, giving them an immediate response to crises, and salaries and pensions are being paid adequately as when due But one thing I want to draw the attention of the distinguished governor is the issue of gratuity to the pensioners, and also the issue of paying salary before the new month begins. The issue of gratuity has been and remains a vital topic in the minds of those qualified for it, when will the governor pay? What is he doing about it? Is he going to pay at all? These and many more are the questions in the minds of the masses as some are anxiously waiting for the payment to commence considering the high cost of living in the country at the moment.
It can be recalled that during the swearing-in of the governor on May 29th, 2023 for the second term in office, part of his speech was the government’s commitment to pay all backlog of gratuity even stating accurately, the amount the government ought to pay its citizens. But till now the people are yet to see any payment done but promises are still made. Some pensioners have even fallen into the hands of fraudsters, who come to them assuring them that they work in the state government and will work out their gratuity for them, collecting lots of money from them concurrently. One of the victims says “Some people came to me, showed me their ID card, telling me that they work in the state government and can work out my gratuity as the government is about to start payment, and if I don’t verify some documents, my name won’t be among the beneficiaries, so for two to three months now, have been sending them money for one reason or the other, so am calling on the government to please help us”.
Similarly, When the governor first resumed office during his first tenure in the year 2019. He normally pays worker’s salaries by the maximum 25th of every month but as of now the payment starts from the 5th of the next month adding extra days to that which was done initially, that is why many citizens of the state are crying out to the government, asking what could have made the governor extend the date of payment. The people are therefore pleading with the governor to please look into the matter as they are suffering trying to cope with the current situation, of the country and they believe that the governor will surely look into all these matters as he is a man of the people. Kidnappers attack kanwara in Dass LGA Bauchi Call For Justice To The People Of Kanwara, Bauchi State As Bandits Attacks It was in the late hours of November 12th that the people of the Kanwara community in Dass local government, Bauchi state, had their sleep cut off by some sounds of sporadic Gunshots.In a devastating event that lasted for about 30 minutes, until the early hours of 13th November, exactly 2:00 am, it was later discovered that the Gunshots were from a kidnap operation that went successfully without being countered by any individual or group of people.The successful operation led to the kidnap of one baba, Mr. Joseph Garba, who is from Dass, and a resident of the Kanwara community;Mr. Joseph has been a person with a high reputation maintaining a good image. People of the community testified that he was living in peace and harmony with everyone, both young and old. A good husband and father that never takes his responsibilities for granted and is also helpful to the needy in the community. The question that keeps harbouring the minds of friends, family, and people around him, therefore, is; why would a kind and gentle person like him be subjected to such devastating cruelty?An investigation was carried out and it was confirmed that the abductors requested for the sum of five million naira, to be delivered to them with food items for his release. The brother of the captive, Mr Victor Garba, was assigned by the family of Mr. Joseph to deliver the money and food items to the kidnappers after the family had to struggle hard to raise such an amount and the required items. He stated that” on reaching the destination he delivered the money and items to them, They attacked him, beating him mercilessly, snatched his phone, and went away with the money and the items but yet to release his brother.”
He also added by mentioning that the abductors only left him with a piece of information after requesting and begging to see his brother, they refused and told him to go away because his brother had not been talking, due to shock and High Blood pressure. One of the people in the community has this to say ” Where were the security personnel at the time of the operation Mr Joseph’s house was just a mile away from the military checkpoint, with all the gunshots, were the military personnel sleeping or did they abandon their duty post? Because there was no record of their involvement, which further aid the terrorists to successfully carry out their operation.” Another lamented that the government needs to heat security in the community as it is usually ignored when it comes to cases like this. And we don’t want to die now please, we are asking for help”.To what may seem like a dash of hope and unanswered prayers of the family, the police recently confirmed the death of Mr Joseph as the body was found at a nearby village called Gala Village a suburb community in Dass LGA with the body swollen up already indicating that he was killed earlier, without the notice of the family as the kidnappers were busy playing with their minds.
This is a call from the Kanwara people to the state government, this incident had left the whole community in misdemeanor, mourning, and sorrow. The government should deploy and intensify armed military personnel to make sure that perpetrators are call justice and making sure that any military personnel must always be on duty as this incident might have been due to the negligence of those at the checkpoint. The community needs more security to avoid future happenings. Although this has never been recorded before in the community, the government needs to be on high alert in every community irrespective of size.
By Haruna Halan Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri,Borno State.
